Lando Norris capitalized on a late-race security automobile to leapfrog McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and win a chaotic wet-dry Miami Dash.
The race bought underway nearly half an hour not on time after heavy rain doused the circuit through the 90 minutes earlier than its unique begin time. Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari on his solution to the grid, and the security automobile led the sphere for 2 formation laps earlier than a crimson flag suspended the beginning resulting from heavy spray.
“The visibility is genuinely the worst I’ve ever had in a race automobile,” Piastri radioed his staff shortly earlier than the vehicles have been returned to pit lane to attend out the climate.
The delay lasted 28 minutes, after which race management ordered two extra formation laps behind the security automobile — counting in the direction of the 18-lap race distance — and a standing begin on intermediate tires.
Piastri reacted to the lights fractionally quicker than Antonelli, and by the point they reached the apex, the Australian had claimed the nook.
Antonelli tried to squeeze him as they turned in, but it surely solely had the impact of sending him crusing off the observe. Within the slippery circumstances it price him one other two locations, dropping him to fourth.
{The teenager} radioed that he’d been pushed off the street, however the stewards determined no investigation was needed. The choice left Piastri within the lead forward of Norris, the hole between them out to 1.5s by the top of the primary lap and rising to 3s by the point the dash reached half distance.
However by then the circuit was starting to dry quickly, and the enhancing circumstances triggered Crimson Bull Racing to haul Yuki Tsunoda into pit lane for a set of medium tires, the Japanese driver working seventeenth and having nothing to lose.
Lewis Hamilton adopted go well with from an uninspired sixth, and instantly your entire discipline was in pit lane switching to dry rubber to capitalize on the drying observe.
Within the chaos Max Verstappen was launched from his pit field into the trail of Antonelli, damaging his entrance wing and incurring a 10s penalty. Antonelli had been turning into his pit field when he was struck, forcing him to bail again into the quick lane and return to pit lane a second time on the next tour, dropping him out of the factors.
McLaren opted towards instantly pitting in response, and on carrying intermediate tires the momentum swung away from Piastri and again in the direction of Norris, who slashed his deficit to all however nothing by lap 12.
The Briton harried the Australian till on lap 13, when Piastri was known as into the pits for a change to medium tires, showing to protect his lead forward of a discipline that had nearly totally switched to slicks.
Norris needed to wait one other lap earlier than switching compounds, however simply because it was within the Miami Grand Prix final season, luck was on his aspect, with a security automobile known as simply as he entered pit lane, slowing the sphere and permitting him to rejoin the race in first place.
The security automobile was required to gather Fernando Alonso’s wrecked Aston Martin, the Spaniard having been tipped right into a spin at Flip 12 by an errant Liam Lawson. The Kiwi had complained earlier within the dash that his visor was misting up, leaving him with diminished visibility.
LAP 15/18
⚠️ SAFETY CAR ⚠️
Fernando Alonso has crashed and the Security Automotive is deployed. Alonso is out of the automobile#F1 #F1Sprint #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/Z3IyAeb8Ny
— Components 1 (@F1) May 3, 2025
Not solely did this transfer Norris into first place, however with solely 4 laps remaining when the security automobile was known as, the dash ended underneath warning, stopping Piastri from difficult him for the lead and securing Norris victory.
“My luck in Miami appears fairly good on the minute, so I’m pleased,” he mentioned. “However the tempo as nonetheless excellent.
“It’s at all times simply troublesome, these races. You by no means know when to field — do you field early or do you keep out later and possibly get the security automobile? It’s labored out two years in a row.
“I’m pleased. Good job by the staff. It was good enjoyable.”
Security automobile luck swung Norris’s approach in Miami once more, to Piastri’s chagrin. Steven Tee/Getty Photographs
Piastri’s championship plead is diminished to 9 factors, and the Australian rued the security automobile depriving him of what would have been an easy victory.
“I really feel like I did just about all the pieces proper there,” he mentioned. “Clearly a bit disenchanted to return away with second, however that’s the way it goes generally sadly. Hopefully meaning I’ve bought a little bit of luck for [qualifying] this afternoon and tomorrow.”
Hamilton’s early change to smooth tires proved completely timed, selling the Ferrari driver to 3rd to retain his good podium document in Sprints this yr, having gained the earlier brief race in Shanghai.
“I’m so proud of that,” he mentioned. “It’s been a tricky yr to this point.
“I actually, actually did battle on the inters — I believe everybody was struggling on them. I took the danger, took the gamble, and it paid off.”
His acquire dropped Verstappen to fourth, however the Dutchman was dropped to seventeenth and final after having his 10s penalty utilized after the race, when the sphere remained bunched up in security automobile formation.
It promoted Alex Albon to fourth forward of George Russell and Lance Stroll, who gained a outstanding 10 locations after switching to slicks on the identical lap as Hamilton.
Lawson completed seventh however shall be lucky to maintain it following a post-race investigation for crashing into Alonso.
Oliver Bearman beat Yuki Tsunoda to the ultimate level for eighth, each up 11 locations, however the Briton will see the stewards after the race concerning an unsafe launch involving Nico Hulkenberg.
Pole-getter Antonelli completed tenth however stands an opportunity of scoring the ultimate level of the race with potential penalties forward.
Pierre Gasly completed eleventh forward of Hulkenberg, Isack Hadjar, Esteban Ocon, Gabriel Bortoleto, Jack Doohan and the penalized Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz joined Alonso on the retirement checklist after clipped within the apex wall turning into the chicane, whereas Leclerc failed to begin after his reconnaissance-lap crash.
